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Compound Bieshe Kang’ai inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis in HCT116 human colorectal cancer cells


Sha Wan
Li Tan
Nan Lei
Yurong Shi
Man He
Meng Zhang
Lijuan Zhou
Liangwen Jin
Xianli Meng
Kui Yang
Haibo Xu

Abstract

Purpose: To study the effect of Compound Bieshe Kang’ai (CBK) on proliferation and apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells.

Methods: HCT116 colorectal cancer cells and FHs 74 Int intestinal cells were treated with CBK, followed by determination of cell proliferation with 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Caspase-9 and caspase-3 activities as well as protein expressions of Bcl-2 and BAX, and mRNA levels of caspase-9, caspase-3, Bcl-2 and BAX in HCT116 cells were evaluated, followed by examination of the morphological alterations of HCT116 cells with Hoechst 33342 staining.

Results: CBK suppressed proliferation of HCT116 cells in a concentration- and time-dependent pattern, without cytotoxicity to FHs 74 Int cells. CBK also elevated caspase-9 and caspase-3 activities, mitigated protein translation of Bcl-2 and augmented that of BAX. It also enhanced mRNA transcriptions of caspase-9, caspase-3 and BAX, but decreased that of Bcl-2 in HCT116 cells in a  concentrationdependent manner, as well as induced cancer cell shrinkage, nuclear fragmentation and chromatin condensation.

Conclusion: The findings highlight CBK as a promising therapeutic agent for colorectal cancers, by retarding proliferation and inducing apoptosis in cancer cells.

Keywords: Apoptosis, BAX, Bcl-2, Cancer, Caspase, Compound Bieshe Kang’ai, Chromatin condensation, Nuclear fragmentation

Journal Identifiers


eISSN: 1596-9827
print ISSN: 1596-5996